CHAPTER 6

TVs and Trouble

Most people hit the major stores Thursday before their turkey was even cold, but Charlie knew about a neighborhood shopping center that was offering excellent deals on flatscreen TVs on Black Friday. They hadn't advertised as widely because they didn't have the inventory to compete with the bigger chain stores. She hoped that meant that she had better odds of getting one early Friday morning than she would trying to swim through the massive crowds at a bigger place on Thursday.

Charlie had driven through the shopping center's parking lot late Thursday night to decide how early she'd need to come to get a good place in line for the sale the next day. She was more than half way down the parking lot when she noticed the big black truck that had been lifted to make room for tires that Charlie felt were probably taller than her car. The truck stood out because it was taller than the other vehicles around it, but what made her take particular notice, was the guy that stumbled away from the truck and out into the lane in front of her car.

She hadn't been going very fast and she'd been paying attention, so she was able to stop in plenty of time. She hadn't even gotten close to the guy, which was proved out by the fact that he had to take several steps in order to slam a hand on her car hood while he screamed at her. His buddy had joined in on the other side of her car, but she did her best to ignore them both.

When she didn't yell back he'd felt obliged to come around to the driver side to demand that she get out of the car or roll down her window at least. She'd refused to do either and had driven away when she was sure he was far enough back that she wouldn't accidentally run over his foot.

She imagined that he and his buddy were there for the coinciding sale at the sporting goods store the next morning, for which there was already a huge line. She was relieved to see that there wasn't much of a line at all in front of the electronics store that she was scoping out. She decided to go home and get a few hours sleep before she came back to find a spot in the crowd.

The morning had started off so well. She'd been pretty close to the front of the line when the doors opened at six a.m. and she'd gone straight for the back of the store. Of course, the place was total pandemonium, and the roar of the crowd was unbelievable, but she'd been able to lay claim to the TV that she'd hoped for. Because of the huge crowd and the limited number of checkers it had taken her a couple of hours before she could drag her TV, poorly balanced in a shopping cart, back to her car.

She'd just barely shut the hatch at the back of her car when she felt someone behind her. She turned to see the two men from last night.

"Hey! You cut us in line!"

Charlie started to walk away from the bearded man but the second guy, wearing a red shirt and black coat stepped in front of her.

"That TV belongs to us." He stepped into her caging her in with an arm on either side of her shoulders as he leaned with his hands on her car.

No one else was close by and Charlie knew that screaming for help wasn't likely to bring help soon enough if at all.

"Yah. That TV is ours!" The man with the beard loomed over his friends shoulder.

Charlie took a deep breath, made sure her key fob was in her hand, and kneed red-shirt as she shoved him into his buddy. She ran around to the front door and got in as fast as possible. The man with the beard had chased her and she'd slammed the door on his fingers when he'd tried to grab her.

There was a pole in front of her car marking the spot on the other side as handicapped parking. Fortunately the spot next to her was one of those semi decorational dividers where a pile of round rocks was stacked around some decorative tree. She had to back up a tiny bit to change the angle of her car enough. She didn't feel a thump or hear a scream, so she hoped she hadn't hit the guy on the ground. She gunned the engine as she pulled forward and drove next to the pole and over the rocks.

She heard the rocks scrape under her car and didn't notice until it was too late that her back fender was too close to the pole. She saw the pole scrape across the back panel but there was nothing she could do about it.

As she dropped off of the rocks and into the driving lane she looked in her rearview but didn't see the two men. Her heart was racing and she was already dreading calling her insurance over the scrape on her car but she was feeling better, feeling safer, as she drove for the exit for the parking lot.

She'd just about made it to the stop sign when she saw the lifted-truck a couple of cars behind her. She swallowed hard and pulled onto the street. The truck turned the same direction she had.

She moved with the flow of traffic, but the truck was driving more aggressively and it wasn't long before it was directly behind her. Her heart started to race again. She tried switching lanes and darting through traffic. She kind of hoped that a cop would pull her over for erratic driving, but there were no cops in sight.

She was just about to call the cops herself when she saw an ad for the Bridgetown Brew Pub on a bus stop shelter. She knew from taking Quinn home last month that she wasn't too far from the pub.

She pulled her phone out and called Quinn.

"Quinn?"

"Charlie, everything okay?"

"No. No. I'm being followed." She took a deep breath trying to stay calm. "These two guys in the parking lot they…" She took another breath. "And now they're following me."

"Where are you?"

"Fifteenth ave." She gasped as the truck got so close to her car that she thought it might hit her. "Are you at the pub?"

"What just happened?" Quinn had heard her gasp.

"It's okay. I thought they were going to hit me but they didn't."

"If you can, come to the pub. Come down the alley just like you did when you brought me home."

"Okay. Quinn…"

"I'll stay on the phone. Be careful."

~~o0o~~

Eliot was up early getting things started for lunch. He loved the quiet of the morning. The last couple of days had been pretty intense and he was glad to have a few minutes to himself to enjoy the quiet.

A couple of hours after Eliot had gotten up he was unsurprised when Quinn came down the stairs. Unlike Eliot who got up early because he had trouble sleeping Quinn seemed to be a genuine morning person. Unlike the rest of the pack. Eliot kept telling Parker and Hardison that people weren't meant to be nocturnal, but unless there was a job they slept late every chance they got. Nate and Sophie were rarely up before nine unless it was required for a con. Eliot didn't know yet if Gemma was a morning person or not but when he'd slipped out of bed at four in the morning she'd still been sleeping.

Quinn had his undershirt and slacks on, and had thrown on a button up shirt that he hadn't gotten around to buttoning yet. He was barefoot and his hair was mussed but he looked genuinely happy to greet the day.

"You didn't sleep in those clothes didja?" Eliot teased.

"I didn't want to run around in my pajamas with company in the house." Quinn poured himself a cup of coffee.

Eliot snorted. It was the pack and Gemma, not a bunch of strangers, but he reminded himself that Quinn had only been with them a few months and it had taken Eliot a lot longer than that to settle in.

"Gemma not up yet?" Quinn settled on a stool at the island counter.

They both heard the door at the end of the hall open and close. "I guess she is."

Gemma had on a long loose t-shirt and soft pajama pants and didn't seem at all self conscious about being seen in her pajamas.

"Mornin' darlin'." Eliot smiled at her.

She didn't answer out loud but went to him and kissed his cheek before she headed for the coffee pot. She poured herself a cup and brought it to the counter next to Quinn. He slid the sugar bowl next to her cup and Eliot brought her the creamer from the fridge. She climbed up on the stool and leaned a little to the side letting her head rest on Quinn's shoulder for a second before she sat up and fixed her cup of coffee.

"Not quite online yet?" Quinn smiled at her.

She took a long drink of her coffee and smiled. "Maybe."

The three of them fell into easy conversation as Eliot worked through the last minute side dishes he still wanted to make.

Quinn's phone rang and Eliot stilled when he heard Charlie's voice. Gemma couldn't hear both sides of the call the way that Eliot could, but she could see the way it was affecting both men. As one they moved to the door to the stairs. Quinn stopped long enough to pull on boots and then they both headed down the stairs.

Gemma sat at the counter for a moment but decided she was far to curious to just wait for the men to come back. She stopped by the door and spotted a pair of shoes that she guessed were Parkers. At least she couldn't picture Sophie wearing ripped up sneakers. She pulled them on and headed down the stairs.

She'd heard the door that led from the meeting room to the loading dock close as she entered the stairwell. She hurried down the stairs but hesitated for a moment before she opened it. With an eyeroll for herself she pushed the door open. She couldn't help the little smile when she saw Eliot reach out a hand behind him waiting for her.

He pulled her in front of him so that he could wrap his arms around her. "You should have brought your jacket."

She nodded and leaned into him.

"If something happens you stay back, okay."

"Okay."

She listened to Quinn talking to Charlie. She knew from talking with Eliot that Charlie had quite the crush on Quinn and the whole pack knew that Quinn liked Charlie even though he insisted that they couldn't be more than friends. She could see how concerned he was, and she hoped that whatever was happening that he'd be able to fix things for her.

Eliot tensed up behind her and she moved to stand to the side and a little behind him. He gave her a little smile in thanks.

Gemma watched as a car that she thought might be a late model Subaru came around the corner of the alley. A big black truck was right on the cars bumper and the driver didn't seem to care that they'd just pulled into a narrow dead-end alley.

Charlie jumped out of her car and ran up the stairs of the loading dock. Eliot motioned her behind him and Quinn hopped down from the dock.

The driver leaned out of his door to yell at Charlie. "Don't think you can hide. You still owe us that TV bitch!"

Quinn and Eliot could both smell the booze coming from the two men in the truck.

"You need to leave." Quinn stood, ready for anything.

"Not until we get what's ours!" The second man in the truck yelled.

"Last chance boys." Quinn stretched his neck and smiled at them.

"Fine, pretty boy, I got two minutes to kill." The man with the beard hopped down from the truck.

Quinn let the man swing first but didn't let it connect. The second man hopped out of the truck and went to join the fight.

"Aren't you going to help him?" Charlie asked Eliot.

"Not 'til he needs it." Eliot smiled as he watched the fight. He could feel the thrill of the fight lighting up the pack bonds. That feeling was why he and Quinn would probably never be able to give up what they did for a living. They enjoyed their work too much.

Quinn had taken a couple of hits but nothing serious and Eliot could tell that Quinn was mostly playing with them. These were two drunk idiots not anywhere in the same league as Quinn. Eliot was content to let the fight continue until the man with the red shirt picked up a length of pipe that someone had left near the dumpster.

Eliot hopped off of the dock and ran to join the fray. Red shirt had drawn back and was already swinging by the time Eliot's feet had touched the ground. Keeping his speed to humanly possible meant that he wouldn't get there in time. Quinn hadn't seen red shirt pick up the pipe since he was in the middle of exchanging blows with the other guy.

As Eliot ran for the fight he saw the pipe wobble and the arc of the swing fall off course as a scruffy looking tennis shoe bounced off of the man's face. He didn't pause to look around to find out where the shoe had come from, he just ran until he got close enough to shove the guy down.

The pipe struck a glancing blow off of Quinn's ribs and as he twisted with the pain of it. He used the motion to pull the man he was fighting with into himself. He pulled the man into a headlock and kneed him in the ribs until he felt something crack. He dropped the guy to the pavement and looked to see what had happened to the man in the red shirt.

Red shirt staggered up from the ground and took a swing at Eliot. That first swing was blocked neatly but the second one landed. Eliot smiled as his head rocked to the side.

"Come on boy!" He waved red shirt over for another try. Red shirt didn't have the sense or the experience to keep his distance and readily stepped up.

Eliot slapped the man with an open palm and followed through with an elbow from the other direction. Eliot's elbow was much more effective than red shirts fist had been. Red shirt dropped to the ground unconscious.

Eliot pressed a couple of fingers to the side of his eye where he could feel the swelling starting. "Better leave that one awake." Eliot commented as he got close to Quinn. "Don't have time to drive them both somewhere. Better if he can drive outta here on his own."

Quinn pulled the guy up by his shirt and held him still while Eliot patted him down for a set of keys.

When he couldn't find a set of keys, he climbed up into the truck and found that the keys had been left in the ignition. He started the truck and made the necessary maneuvers to get the truck turned around. Once he had the truck facing back down the alley he hopped out and jogged back to Quinn.

Eliot looked the bearded guy over. "Put some ice on those ribs and you should be fine." He grabbed him by the collar and half dragged, half walked the guy to the driver side of the truck. "Alright bubba, up ya go." Eliot shoved until the guy was all the way in the cab. "I better never see you or your friend again or next time things won't be so friendly." Eliot pounded a fist against the door of the truck as he walked away.

He helped Quinn pick up and toss red shirt into the back of the truck.

They both stepped back and waited until the truck turned the corner at the end of the alley.

Quinn smiled at Eliot and a trickle of blood rolled down his chin from his split lip.

Eliot chuckled and threw an arm over Quinn's shoulder for a second. "Come on. Let's get cleaned up."

Eliot strolled happily up the stairs of the loading dock and pulled Gemma into a hug, kissing her forehead.

Quinn followed Eliot up the stairs and turned to Charlie. "Are you okay?"

Charlie frowned and touched her own lip before she started to reach toward Quinn's split lip. Her fingers didn't quite touch him when he reached up, catching her fingers in his.

"It's fine." He looked her over. "They didn't hurt you before you got here did they?"

"No." Charlie shook her head. "They tried to scare me into giving them my TV. The guy with the red shirt kinda trapped me against my car."

Quinn frowned.

Charlie couldn't help her smile. "I kneed him in the balls."

Quinn chuckled. "Good for you."

Charlie fidgeted for a second before she started to head for the stairs down to the parking area. "Thank you both for helping me." She gave them both a small smile.

"Charlie, why don't you stay for lunch. Unless you have plans somewhere else?" Eliot kept an arm around Gemma while he talked to Charlie.

"Oh, uhm. Yah, that'd be great." Charlie smiled.

Everyone started to turn for the door to head in but Gemma set a hand on Eliot's chest. "Uhm, El, could you get my other shoe?" She looked down at her one bare foot.

Eliot laughed and hopped off of the loading dock.

. ͽϿ Ѻ Ͼͼ .

Eliot left Gemma and Charlie to talk in the living room while he and Quinn headed upstairs to clean up. Eliot's first stop was at Parker and Hardison's door. He tapped lightly with a knuckle and waited.

Parker opened the door and frowned when she saw his black eye.

"Can you help us out with the pack bonds?" Eliot asked quietly. "Charlie is down stairs and it'll raise too many questions if we're healed up before lunch."

"So you want your face to look like that?" Parker asked.

Quinn laughed and pressed his fingers to his lip when the split opened up again. "I think it's too late to fix his looks but if you're talking about the black eye, it's a keeper."

"You're one to talk." Eliot frowned at Quinn.

"Hey, I've been complimented many times on my rugged good looks." Quinn preened.

Parker rolled her eyes. "Stupid wolfys." She closed the door without waiting to see what was said next.

Eliot chuckled. "Come on. Let's take a look at your ribs."

"They're fine. Nothing's broken."